Capturing the Pirate's Heart (The Emerald Quest Book 1) (10 page)

“How can you know?” Madeleine was concerned by the foreboding in
Jake’s voice. “And what is going to happen?”

“One of the sail makers told me. We are going to meet up with a ship
called the
Ann Marie
and take her cargo.”

Madeleine’s blood ran cold. So it
was
true; because she had
chosen this boat to hide on, her future was in the hands of Sébastien Leclerc,
a pirate of the high seas. Why did he lie to her? So she would feel safe?

A man with no regard for honesty.
What
sort of position had she put herself in?

He must never, never, know about the heirloom
. She would have no chance of returning to England and she would be
lucky to leave his ship alive.

“Jake.” She reached out and touched his arm and he looked at her
earnestly. “You

must promise me
you won’t tell anybody about my aunt’s necklace back in New Orleans. You must
not
tell. I cannot risk anyone else knowing about it. Can I trust you?”

“Of course you can.” He smiled and held her gaze steadily before
looking over her shoulder and jumping to his feet. “Look, the provision boat is
returning. We will be underway soon.”

Before she could stand and look to the direction in which he was
pointing over the water, Sébastien was walking toward them with his hand held
out.

“Come, my dear.” His voice was loud and carried across the deck. “We
shall spend some time together below deck before we get underway.” Heat ran up
her neck as ribald laughter and comments drifted down from the sailors in the
rigging once more. Madeleine held herself steady and regarded him. Despite
knowing what he was, she could not reconcile the man in front of her with a
black-hearted pirate.

Sébastien took her hand and pulled her to her feet. Jake averted his
gaze as her chemise slipped even lower. She grabbed for it and a rude retort
hovered on her lips; her intention must have been apparent to Sébastien. Before
she could speak, his lips descended swiftly on hers and he murmured against her
mouth.

“Keep calm. You have done well so far. But I want you below decks
now
.”

She gazed up at him, as tingles ran through the nerve endings in her
lips, but Sébastien raised his head and looked over her shoulder. “My dear
brother is following the provision boat in his own flat boat and I would prefer
he not see you when he comes aboard. He would insist on taking you to shore due
to the…er…delicate nature of our voyage ahead.”

For a moment, Madeleine considered perhaps going ashore would be in
her best interests than heading out into the wide ocean with a buccaneer who
was intent on purloining a cargo. “Could he get me back to New Orleans?”

Sébastien’s gaze was hard. “My dear, one look at you in your current
attire and you would not get out of his bedroom for a week. Then he would
probably sell you to the highest bidder.” He tugged at her arm. “Come quickly,
his boat is almost upon us.”

“And you won’t sell me to the highest bidder?”

Sébastien grabbed her arm impatiently, led her around the wheelhouse
and they remained out of view of the approaching boats as they climbed through
the hatch to the ladder and below deck. He did not respond to her question.

As the cabin door closed behind them, Madeleine exhaled a heavy sigh
and flopped onto the bed more like the way she was sure Sébastien would expect
the cabin boy to act.

“You did well.” He stood in the doorway and regarded her intently but
he did not smile and a shiver ran down her back. “Now I suggest you get some
rest and stay quietly down here. I will come back and let you know when we are
about to get underway. I hope you will not be seasick as it is going to be a
very rough passage when we leave the Bay. There is a storm coming from the
east.” As if to reinforce his words, a gust of wind snapped the sails above as
the squall approached.

Madeleine sat on the bed and watched as the door closed behind
Sébastien. For the first time, she heard the slide of a bolt as he locked her
in his cabin. Another shiver ran down her back and she rubbed her arms to quell
the goose bumps that arose. For the first time since he had discovered her in
his cabin, there was fear mixed in with the unbidden desire she felt for this
pirate.

Jean-Luc, Sébastien’s less than honest half-brother, came across
from the outpost on the provision boat and Sébastien was not pleased to see
him. Jean-Luc turned as a sailor called down from the rigging and his eyes
narrowed as he stared at the bow of the vessel where the Africans were sitting.
His voice was as hard as steel and his eyes like flint as he turned back to
Sébastien. “Slaves, brother? That is most unlike you. I thought you abhorred
slavery or were they just pretty words to seek favor with your government
friends?”

“Don’t pretend to know me. I am aware that you have little care for
what I do.” Sébastien curled his fingers into fists and fought the desire to wipe
the sneer from Jean-Luc’s face with one well-placed punch. “Just be content
with the work I do for you.”

“Now, now, there is no need to feel under-valued. You are my
brother, after all.” He slapped Sébastien on the shoulder and Sébastien’s mouth
dried as Jean-Luc turned to the hatch.

“You can surely share a brandy with me before you go? I am sure you
have a fine bottle or two down in my old cabin.”

Sébastien returned his half-brother’s curious gaze and for a moment he
wondered if Jean–Luc had seen Madeleine on deck, but he quickly dismissed that
thought. There was no way he could have seen her and the new crewmen who had
gone ashore were not aware she was onboard, so they would not have mentioned
her presence on the
Maiden
. No, he was up to something and Sébastien
wanted no part of it. As soon as they returned to New Orleans and he reported
to Carondelet, he would leave the
Maiden
at the quay, and tell Mr.
Abrahams to let Jean-Luc know he had gone. Then he would be on the first
passage he could book to the Hawaiian Islands.

The sky darkened as a huge gust of wind buffeted the vessel and
white horses began to whip up on the bay as the wind increased. The two boats
were unloaded and Jean-Luc’s oarsman looked anxiously across the bay as a solid
sheet of rain approached.

Sébastien held his half-brother’s gaze and lowered his voice. “I am
sure you are after something more than the pleasure of my company, so I suggest
you tell me now or you will have to wait until my return.”

And if all goes well, you will be waiting a very long time.
Sébastien despised his half-brother and had kept his side of the
river trade honest and free from corruption. That was more than could be said
for Jean-Luc’s dealings. If there was gold to be had, honesty was not a
consideration he ever took into account.

Jean-Luc lifted his head and stared toward the squall that was
coming in rapidly. “I won’t ask where you are going, just ensure you are back
in time to get the cargo delivered up river before the end of the month. There
are many new river boats on the Mississippi and I would be most unhappy if we
lost our market because you were off on some do-gooder mission. I know you too
well, dear brother.” He turned away with a laugh and then threw a final, casual
question at Sébastien. “Oh, and by the way, were you acquainted with Ivan
Lutchenko?”

Sébastien wrinkled his brow.
At last, the reason for Jean-Luc’s
visit
. “Lutchenko? The fur trader?”

“Yes. “ Jean-Luc grabbed for the side of the boat as it swayed in
the rough waves. His oarsman gestured for him to jump into the smaller boat
which was bobbing higher as the swell built. “I believe you took him upriver a
few times?”

“I did. But that was more than five years ago.” There was no harm in
sharing that information with Jean-Luc. “Why do you ask?”

“There has been some talk of a missing family heirloom that he gave
to his mistress and I wondered if you knew who his paramour was?”

Sébastien shook his head. “I barely spoke to him. He took passage on
the boat once or twice when he was trapping upriver. From memory, he was a sad
and taciturn man. I cannot imagine that he had anything valuable to give to
anyone, nor that he had a mistress.”

“No matter.” Jean-Luc shrugged. “Have a safe…shall I say journey…or
mission?” His laugh sent a shiver down Sébastien’s back. “I will never
understand you, my brother. You are a strange man.”

Sébastien watched his half-brother climb down the ladder to the
waiting boat.

And I will never understand the greed that drives you.
With any luck, that would be the last time he would ever see
Jean-Luc and the last conversation they would have. Sébastien turned away
thoughtfully, as he prepared to issue instructions to lift anchor and drop the
sails. The sooner the boat got underway, the better. The provisions had been
stored and he would risk the squall. They would ride into the weather and leave
it behind them as it headed toward the swampy bayous of the Mississippi delta.

He though fleetingly of Josephine du Bois and wondered if anyone
else knew she had been Ivan’s mistress. He let the thought go. It didn’t
matter. Josephine had died when her house had burned to the ground in the great
fire of 1794. She had been laid to rest in the cemetery close to where her
house had been in Rue Toulouse. If anyone was looking for her, they wouldn’t
have to look too hard. As for the heirloom, if there was one, it was long gone.

***

Madeleine lay on the bed in the cabin below deck as the timbers of
the hull flexed and groaned. The wind roared and the waves crashed against the
bow as the storm continued. The vessel was pushing through a heavy sea and she
had almost rolled from the bed a number of times. But she was not frightened.
She was sure that Sébastien was an experienced mariner and his well-kept vessel
was capable of staying afloat in these seas. As the roaring of the wind and the
rocking of the boat lessened, she lay there and waited for him to come down to
the cabin.

She knew she would have to share his bed but she was strangely calm.
Her eyelids were heavy and Madeleine fought to stay awake, stifling a yawn as
her head sank into the feather pillow. She had given much thought to his answer
about where the vessel was going and had decided to ask more questions of him
before she disclosed her reason for wanting to return to New Orleans. Finally
she could fight her tiredness no longer and she allowed her eyes to close.

Each time the ship came down hard on the back of a wave, she jerked
awake before falling back into a light doze. Her dreams were filled with
Sébastien and pirates with cutlasses, and an emerald necklace dangling just out
of her reach on the mast. She rolled over and plumped out the feather pillow
before settling back into a fitful sleep.

Hours passed and there was still no Sébastien. Dreams of home
replaced her fragmented dreams of Sébastien and the boat.

When Madeleine came fully awake, it was pitch dark. The boat rocked
from side to side, reminding her where she was. A sob caught in her chest—the
dreams of home had been so real she had expected to wake up in her own bed at
Bellerose Hall. Father would be so proud of her when she returned triumphantly
with the necklace. She was sure he was watching down on her and he would know
what she had done. Perhaps by now the Hall staff had managed to find work
elsewhere. In one way, she hoped that they had, so they would not be hungry or
without a roof over their heads. In another way, she yearned for everything to
be the same when she came home with the necklace, and she could restore their
positions. She reached out tentatively but the bed beside her was still empty.

For the first time since they had sailed from Bristol, doubt filled
her thoughts and a cold feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. What if
Uncle Titus had been right? Perhaps she should have listened to him and not
been so determined that he was wrong. She sat up with a start and shook her
head, sternly reprimanding herself.

I will not think that. I am right.
Somehow she would find the necklace and find her way home.

All would be well.

Slipping from the bed, she crossed to the narrow opening in the
hull, and her stomach grumbled as she peered out. It was still dark outside;
Madeleine shivered and rubbed her arms. The temperature had dropped and it was
chilly standing on the wooden floor when she stepped off the square of carpet.
A flash of lightning lit the cabin and a resounding boom in the far distance
made her scurry back to the bed. She pulled the covers up to her bare
shoulders; although it did sound as though the storm was easing and moving
farther away.

Madeleine let a grim smile cross her face. She could face a wicked
pirate any day and keep her wits about her, but a storm could bring her undone.
The next boom of thunder was even farther away and she prayed it would stop soon
as she pulled the covers over her head. She had been alone for too long and her
fears were finally taking over.

There was a slight noise at the door and she slowly lowered her
hands, and dropped the cover from over her face and waited, hoping it was Sébastien.

Tap. Tap.

She waited for a moment more and when the tap sounded for the third
time she climbed off the bed and walked quietly over to the door, pressing her
ear to the timber. It was quiet.

“Who…who’s there?” The storm had shaken her and she tried to keep
her voice steady. She didn’t know who would be knocking at the door, but she
had to remember it was locked from the outside and not her side, and anyone who
wished to enter could get in without much ado.

“Miss Madeleine, it’s me, Jake.”

Madeleine relaxed her shoulders and let out her breath. “What is
it?”

“Cap’n sent me down to check you were all right.” Jake sounded full
of self importance that he had been given a mission. “He said to tell you we
have almost ridden the storm out and that Cook will bring you something to eat
shortly.”

“Thank you.” Madeleine was surprised that Sébastien had even given
her a passing thought as he had steered though the storm. “And Jake?”

“Yes?” His voice was muffled by a renewed groaning of the timber as
the vessel rolled into a big wave.

“Thank the captain for his concern.”